Altering History
by Suzuki Mi-chan
Summary: Scarlette Lucian, a vampire slayer from the year 2005, is transported to the past, into Van Helsing’s time, to help famed the monster slayer of legend. But, why can’t he do it alone?
1. Chapter One

Altering History Summary: Scarlette Lucian, a vampire slayer from the year 2005, is transported to the past, into Van Helsing's time, to help the monster slayer of legend. But, why can't he do it alone? 

Author's Notes: Well, here I am. I don't own Van Helsing, unfortunately. That's a full-fledged tragedy, right there… But, anyway… Here's one of many, many, many VH stories I've thought up at one time or another (I think it was thirty-something at last count…). Ah, yes, I remember my very first VH fanfic… I thought it was so awesome… But, anyway, that's a conversation for another time. Anyway, on with the show—er… Fic!

**Chapter One:**

The locks on the door finally broke as one final clap of thunder sounded. As the door swung open, the woman slowly walked into the ramshackle room, trying her best not to step on any floorboards that would creak loudly, or, at worst, break. Raindrops fell rapidly through tons of holes in the ceiling, and the room shook with every blow of the wind.

'_This building's really showing its age,'_ Scarlette Lucian thought, smiling to herself. But her smile soon faded as she investigated the shadowy areas of the room; all she found were cobwebs and dust inches thick. There were obviously no vampires in the room.

"Bryce, you idiot," she muttered to herself, "did you even have a clue what you were talking about?"

Earlier that day, her fiancée, Bryce Denton, had rushed up to her, out of breath and paler than normal.

"Scarlette!" he yelled, "Scarlette! 

_She turned to him, a bit startled. "Bryce! What is it?"_

_Bryce gripped her shoulder, catching his breath. "Scarlette… The old house… Seventeenth Street… vampires…"_

_Scarlette stared at her fiancée, skeptical. "Well, Bryce, if there are vampires there, why didn't you take care of it? You know how, you taught me!"_

_He let go of her shoulder and stood up straight. "Whatever are you talking about, Darling? Of course I took care of the problem."_

_She looked him up and down. "How? You're completely unprepared. You don't even have a gun."_

_Bryce looked her straight in the eye, "Exactly."_

Scarlette had prepared, and had left, later. And her journey had brought her to this. Taking one final glance around the room, while listening closely, she shook her head and made her way toward the door, rain falling onto her head, soaking her black braid. However, something stopped her, something she hadn't seen before. There, sitting on a table off to the side, was a table. And on the table were two things: A book and a candle. Scarlette, intrigued, cautiously walked over to the table. Staring at the book, she took a match out of the pocket of her black duster and struck it, getting a flame. She lit the candle, and looked at the book again.

_Nothing had changed at all. Gabriel Van Helsing was indeed too weak, as was his friar ally. The Dragulia siblings were forever united once more under the moon, and they knew their father would be very proud. They smiled softly to one another and transformed, flying off into the night. They drew blood, and took mates, and bred. Once more, vampires were taking over. They would soon have full reign._

"What is this…?" Scarlette wondered aloud. There was nothing else written on the page. Was it a story? Was it a journal? Fiction? Nonfiction? A prank? Reality? There was something that struck her interest, however, and that was a name. Her finger found its way to the name "Gabriel Van Helsing" and lightly circled it. _'And the name 'Dragulia…'_ she thought, _'Why does that sound so familiar to me?"_

Instantly, she knew that this slice of information wouldn't satisfy her; she needed more. As if she were afraid of tearing the pages, Scarlette carefully flipped the page back once.

There was nothing written there.

"Well, that doesn't make sense," Scarlette murmured, "Why would they start an ending in the middle of a book?"

She flipped the page to where she had begun.

The writing had disappeared.

'_What?! I could have sworn…'_

Scarlette was certain she was only seeing things. Forgetting about ripping the pages, she flipped through it madly, unaware of the wind that was emitting from them. Suddenly, the book slammed shut, and all she saw was black.

---

"Carl, I told you. There's not a dead woman back here! I've been back here twice today and—"

"No, I swear, I just saw her—there she is."

Skeptical, the man looked at where his friend was pointing. Sure enough, there was a woman laying there, in the mud, by the river. And, she did appear to be dead.

"My God…" the man was speechless.

"I—I guess she drowned. Perhaps suicide. But, besides that, what should we do with her? Should we bury her? Should we leave her here, what should—Van Helsing, what are you doing?"

The man known as Van Helsing had knelt down next to the body. He pushed her thick, dark braid behind her shoulder, and did the same with a strange lock of violet colored hair. "I'm checking for a pulse."

Suddenly, the woman sat up. The friar gasped and ran into a tree. "She's alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," she said. Her hand instantly shot to her head. "Ouch! What the hell happened?"

Van Helsing stood, offering his hand to the woman. "I'm not quite sure. Carl found you lying here, earlier."

The woman took his hand and stood up. "Carl, who's Carl?"

"I'm Carl. But the question is, who are you?"

The woman glanced over to where Carl was leaning against a tree. "Me? My name is Scarlette Lucian, and I'm a vampire slayer."

"Oh, really?" Van Helsing inquired. "So am I. Except I don't just limit myself to vampires. I'm Gabriel Van Helsing, it's nice to meet you."

Scarlette glanced at him, eyes widened. "No! No you're not! You can't be! Gabriel Van Helsing's just a myth, nowadays. You all should know that, it's 2005!"

Carl and Van Helsing exchanged odd glances. "No, it's not…" they said.

"Alright, guys. Stop with the jokes," she told them.

"What jokes?" Carl asked, "You're not in 2005. You're in 1893."

Scarlette swallowed hard and grabbed onto Van Helsing's shoulder for balance. "What?"

"I said, 'You're in 1893.'"

"I heard you," she said. "There are two kinds of 'what?" you know. There's a 'what?' like 'What did you say? I didn't hear you,' and then there's a 'what?' like 'What?! I don't believe you.'"

The man whose shoulder Scarlette was holding looked at her. "And I assume you meant the latter?"

Scarlette nodded.

"Are you sure that fall you took didn't make you mentally unstable?" the friar asked.

Scarlette let go of Van Helsing's shoulder and glared at Carl. "I didn't take a fall, and my mind is perfectly stable, thank you very much!"

"Then how did you get here?" Van Helsing asked.

She threw up her arms in effect of not knowing. "I don't know! All I remember was that my fiancée told me to go to this building and slay the vampires there. But there weren't any vampires, so I was leaving, until I came across this book. I don't know if it was a journal, or what. But I started reading it. But when I turned to the beginning, there were no words. And when I flipped back to where I started, there were no words, either. And that's the last thing I remember before everything went black, and I woke up here."

"Mysterious time travel…?" Carl questioned, under his breath.

Van Helsing, however, seemed more interested in something else than in the point of Scarlette's rant. "So, um, Scarlette, is it? Alright, you said there was a book. Did it say anything peculiar that suggested time travel in any way, like a spell book or such?"

Scarlette thought a moment, then shook her head. "No, it didn't."

"What did it say?"

She hesitated for a moment, unsure of telling him the truth. But, she finally settled on it. "Actually, um… It told of your death. And Carl's. Yes, it mentioned Carl. You were to be killed by the three 'Dragulia' siblings, who I take were vampires and—"

"Dragulia?" Carl interrupted.

"Yes, Dragulia."

Once again, Carl and Van Helsing exchanged glances, this time worried.

"Maybe your fiancée was right," Van Helsing said quietly, "maybe there were vampires in that building. Just not at the time you were looking."

Scarlette looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"In fact, I'm not even sure. But, maybe, just maybe, the events taking place in that book you read, if it's even true, happened in that building. Your fiancée may have felt their presence there, and went to notify you."

"Does that _really_ make sense, Van Helsing?" the friar inquired.

"It makes perfect sense!" the woman defended.

Van Helsing and Carl raised eyebrows.

"I believe in ghosts!" Scarlette defended her statement. "Don't you, Van Helsing? As a self-proclaimed 'vanquisher of evil,' I'd be honestly surprised if you didn't."

Gabriel shrugged. "I've never thought about it before…"

It was a rather awkward silence as the three merely stood around, watching one another.

"I want to help you," Van Helsing said, "But I just don't know how."

Carl intruded, "Actually, Van Helsing, we'll have to figure that out after we get back to Rome. I received a message from Cardinal Jinette, he wants you back in Rome as soon as possible."

Van Helsing glanced from Scarlette to Carl, back and forth. "You… You mean… Take her _with_ us?!"

"Is that a problem?" Scarlette asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"N-no… Not really… I was just…"

Carl shrugged. "See, it's no problem. Come along, when we get to Rome, we'll sort this out. In the meantime…" the friar stared at the woman's mud-caked clothes and hair, "we'll need to make you look a bit more presentable."

Scarlette nodded, hesitated a moment, then followed.


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Yes! I returned! Haha, one more chapter and it'll be longer than "The Project." I should continue that one, it had potential. Anyway… I don't own anything I obviously don't own. Like Van Helsing. Unfortunately. Or The Phantom of the Opera, which is mentioned a few times in here. But Scarlette and the rest of my obviously original characters are obviously mine. Got it? Okay, good.

Chapter Two 

"_Must_ I wear this?" Scarlette half-whined, poking her head out from behind a wall.

Van Helsing sighed, in annoyance. It had taken them hours upon hours to find clothes that the woman would even consider wearing, and now she was complaining about the ones she picked. He wondered if all women from the future were this insane. "Yes," he said, "If you want to look relatively normal here, you probably should."

Carl and Van Helsing heard Scarlette groan in frustration. She stepped out from behind the wall. "There, are you happy?"

The sight took their breath away. Not because she was overly beautiful, because she wasn't. But she looked a bit… familiar to them.

Scarlette noticed their staring. "What?" she snapped.

Van Helsing shook his head, never taking his eyes off of her. "N-nothing. It's nothing."

Scarlette nodded, skeptical.

In all honesty, Van Helsing was, indeed lying. The woman had let her hair down, out of its braid, which left it cascading down her back in a wavy, black mess. Her violet lock of hair, in turn, had been braided. She was now wearing a light-tan silk shirt, and over that was a light-brown vest that laced up in the front, similar to a corset. Her pants were now black, and under them were dark brown lace-up boots.

If it wasn't for the lock of purple hair, and striking violet eyes, she easily could have been mistaken for the deceased Anna Valerious.

"Well, if it's nothing, then why don't you stop staring? Did I lace up this corset-vest thing wrong, or something?"

"No, no, it's fine." Van Helsing and Carl said in unison.

She gave them 'a look.'

"Really! It is!" Van Helsing replied.

Shaking her head, Scarlette began walking toward a group of three horses, which stood around lazily, grazing on grass and such. She mounted one. "Well, if you don't mind, I'd really like to be going. Getting back to my time A.S.A.P sounds excellent, don't you think?."

Carl and Van Helsing walked over. "A.S.A.P.?" Carl asked, confused.

"Oh, I forgot. As soon as possible."

"Oh, alright. In that case, I suppose we should be going." Van Helsing kicked his horse into movement, and they were off.

---

"You know, Scarlette, I was lying, earlier, actually." Van Helsing said. The sun had set on the trio of travelers, and the moon was full, the stars sparkling.

"I never would have guessed," the woman replied, glancing over at him.

"You do remind me a great deal of someone I used to know," he continued.

"Hm, I wonder. Anna Valerious."

Van Helsing looked shocked. "Wait… What? How would you know that?!"

Scarlette rolled her eyes. "I guessed."

The monster slayer raised an eyebrow, so she continued, "Well, it helps a little that, as you were explaining to me missions that you've been on, you kept throwing in nostalgic bits concerning her. A lot of nostalgic bits."

Van Helsing laughed inwardly. "I'm sorry."

Scarlette shook her head, "No, no. I understand. It's so easy to talk about someone you care deeply for when they're gone. In fact, I'm shocked I'm not talking about Bryce a lot."

"Is Bryce your fiancée?" Van Helsing asked.

She nodded, "Yes, how did you know?"

"You mentioned him earlier."

Scarlette smiled. "I guess I did, didn't I?"

Suddenly, a chilling wind blew across the travelers. Scarlette looked behind herself several times, but saw nothing, save for one time. The first time, she thought she had seen a small child dart into the trees.

Gabriel kept looking back, as she did. "Scarlette, are you alright?"

Scarlette quickly glanced up. "What? Me? Oh yes! I'm fine! Why?"

"I don't know, you just keep glancing behind you."

The woman smiled and rode ahead a little bit, singing. "And though you turn from me to glance behind, the Phantom of the Opera is there—inside your mind!"

"Oh, please, no!" Carl yelled.

"What?" Scarlette said, "You don't like 'Phantom of the Opera?'"

Van Helsing answered, "Whatever this 'Phantom of the Opera' is, I really think he was referring to the fact that you sing off key. Which you do."

Scarlette took mock offense. "Oh, thanks!" then she laughed, "It's alright. Bryce sometimes says the same—wait! If you don't know what 'Phantom' is, then how would _you_ know if I'm singing off key or not?!"

Carl shrugged. "I don't know. Possibly the fact that no one is really ever on key. Ever."

"Uh-huh… Whatever. Look, it's getting late. Did either of you have any intentions of camping out for the night?"

"You do have a point," Van Helsing said. He jumped off of his horse. "Here would be fine, I suppose."

Scarlette came to a stop and slid off, glad to hit the ground. "This is going to be an experience… I've never camped out before."

Carl and Van Helsing stared at her. "What?"

"Well, I'm sorry! It's not exactly my fault that all vampire slayers in my group stay in a huge mansion, now is it?!"

The other two shook their heads, and the trio began gathering wood for a fire.

"So, really, Scarlette. Where are you from?" Van Helsing asked later. He and Scarlette were sitting near the fire, and Carl had already gone to sleep.

"I told you, I'm from the year 2005." The woman wrung her hands around one another, a habit she had when she was scared, or aggravated, or frustrated. "But, if you're asking, specifically, where I'm from, it's America."

"Really?" Gabriel was interested, "And you said every vampire slayer lives in a mansion?"

Scarlette nodded. "Yes, every one in the area. There are mansions similar to the one I live in, and they are called Group Houses. My group house is the Sacred Ashes House, as that's the name of my group. But, not just vampire slayers live there. Exorcists and soul collectors, werewolf hunters and vampire slayers, among others, live in Group Houses as well. You're merely designated to one of these subgroups depending on your specialty, shall we say."

"I see. So, obviously, your specialty is killing vampires."

"Yes, of course. I came there when I was maybe fifteen. I remember, I had gotten lost; my mind draws a blank of most things that happened before then, I and entered an alleyway for shelter, but there was vampire there. Of course, I was a rich girl, and I had never been taught anything about what to do in these situations. My family wasn't as smart as others, they and believed that vampires were merely bedtime stories for children. Someone from the mansion had been called there, but when they got there, they were too late. As instinct, I tore my cross necklace out from under my shirt, and shoved it in the vampire's face. When the person finally got there, they were shocked to see this. So, they took me to the mansion, and that's where I've lived."

Van Helsing nodded, then his eyes flickered over to the braid of purple hair. "Why is some of your hair purple."

Scarlette smiled. "It's a bit of rebellious nature in me, I guess. Actually, I don't even remember when I dyed it. As far as I remember, it was always like that. But I must have dyed it. But, I do have violet eyes as well, and that's definitely not the most common thing in the world." She crossed her arms in front of her. "So, now about you. You're Gabriel Van Helsing, and just a myth in my time. This interests me…"

"You don't want to hear about me."

"Of course I do!"

"Alright, then…" Van Helsing thought for a moment. "I kill monsters for no pay, I live at the Vatican, and I can't remember anything from the past twelve years. The end." He got up to leave.

"Wait!" Scarlette called, "That doesn't tell me anything!"

"It tells you everything," he replied, "Good night."

"Hmph." Scarlette sat up straight, annoyed. "Whatever you say."


End file.
